


Jackie and Wilson

by Heavydirtys0ul, things-we-used-tc-share (Heavydirtys0ul)



Series: Wasteland, Baby! [7]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Fae!Roman, M/M, Prince!Roman, Witch!Remy, cats outta the bag, except take me to church u can skip that one, literally in Remy's case, story still makes sense w/o take me to church, this is a series so it wont make sense if u dont read the others, witch!Virgil
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-30
Updated: 2019-08-05
Packaged: 2020-07-25 21:02:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20032297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heavydirtys0ul/pseuds/Heavydirtys0ul, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heavydirtys0ul/pseuds/things-we-used-tc-share
Summary: Virgil realizes that he'd made a mistake, and goes to Patton to tell him the truth, only to get a surprising response.





	1. Laughing his way through my feeble disguise

_"She blows out of nowhere, a roman candle of the wild_  
_Laughing her way through my feeble disguise_  
_No other version of me I would rather be tonight_  
_And lord, she found me just in time,"_

_-Jackie and Wilson, Hozier_

* * *

Virgil sits upright in bed with a look on his face that is almost panicked, a hand drifting over his expression as he presses the palms of his hands to his forehead. "Shit," He cusses, soft yet forceful into the breaking light of the sunrise. His brother stirs in the bed next to him, blinking slowly at the hushed acclamation, giving him a curious, tired look. "I told Roman Patton's name I told him...that night at the grave I..." He cusses gently, pressing his palm firmly against his forehead "I hadn't even realized I was so angry, and Roman's been acting like he doesn't know, Roman doesn't lie, he can't lie,_ shit,_" Rain begins to patter against the window and Remy sighs lightly. 

"Calm down Virgil," He utters, sliding out of bed. His bare feet press against the wooden floorboards until he's sat down next to his brother "It'll be alright, I mean Patton would've told Roman eventually it was only a matter of time before it slipped out, plus Patton trusts Roman, all Roman has to do is act as flamboyant as he usually does when he's told," There's a pause "He can't lie, but you know he's good at dodging the truth, right?" Virgil had hoped because he didn't want to think of the implication of that if Roman can hide things from Patton so well, then what stops him doing the same to Virgil?

"I broke Patton's trust,"

"I hate to be _that _bitch, Virge, but what Patton doesn't know won't actually hurt him, you trust Roman with your life you know even with Patton's name he wouldn't do anything to use that against the mortal," Virgil gives Remy the sort of look brothers give their little brother when they don't have a response for what they've said, but is still extremely disappointed with them anyway. 

"God help any unlucky bastard you end up with Rem," There's a small grin on Remy's face that says some poor, unfortunate soul had already gotten tangled up in his web, but Virgil doesn't want to know right now. One issue at a time. "I have to tell Patton the truth, I'm not a liar and I'm not about to start now," The younger of the brother shrugs and stands up, stretching as he ambles back to his own bed and flops on top of it. 

"To each their own," 

* * *

Whilst those Iron gates are technically there to keep the Fae in the woods, the iron has no effect on Witches, which is why Virgil pulls up a simple glamour to hide his generally terrifying appearance and walks through the gates like they were never there. The wind seems to still as he crosses the threshold, inditing a sense of calm before the storm as his thick leather boots land onto the grass of the mortal village. Seeking out someone is never too hard when you're a Witch, especially if you're a Witch that holds the wind at their fingertips like a curiously-navigated SatNav. He simply asks the wind a question and it answers with ease. 

He finds the mortal at the market with a basket on his arm, looking like a character in a bohemian French movie; curls askew, basket swinging off his arm and an ever-charming smile on his lips. The Witch often forgets the amount of magic a mortal can have in a mere smile, but the smile falls as he sees the worry on Virgil's face. The Witch tries to paint himself as brave, but Patton sees straight through the half-smile as he takes his arm and leads him somewhere secluded. The young man looks up at him as they sit in an open field and the younger takes a moment to marvel the other's glamour "Wow, you actually look Human," he pauses "Somehow that's freakier than having horns," He whispers "Now what's wrong?" 

Virgil pauses a moment "I told Roman your name," Patton nods in agreement. "I'm really sorry, I didn't mean too I was just...so angry at him and I couldn't stop talking and..."

"Yeah, I know, I was there when he said my name when he was giving those boys a...mark," The curly-haired man takes a second and gives Virgil a worried look "Do you not ...remember?" Virgil's face passes into a disappointed look, not at Patton, but himself as he tries to scrape together his memories. "When I came up the stairs he said 'you lay a hand on Patton again and you will find yourself in a pain unimaginable," The Witch falters and gives him a sheepish look, a weak smile on his lips. His memories tend to blur a little, but he should've surely retained that. "When you do that thing...I mean you're already fairly intimidating as far as mystical creatures go, but that thing, you created lightning and thunder and I could hear your voice from outside you sounded like...if a storm had a human voice,"

"Roman calls it...the tempest tongue, but I think he just chose that name because it sounds hot," He sighs "When that happens, well my powers take more of my control, it's like it uses energy from inside my brain and because my mind is mostly human it struggles to retain the memories it deems...too tangled, the issue with being half-mortal is that my mind chemistry works against my Demon blood," Patton nods slowly "So there are huge chunks of my memory that just isn't retained, when I assume all of my powers, my Human brain just...can't cope with that," 

"That sounds awful,"

"It can be, usually I don't assume my full powers unless I'm extremely very furious, or I want to piss Roman off a little bit, it stands to reason that most of the time I won't _want_ to remember what I do when I let the Demon take control," His nails are still black in his glamour, Patton notes internally, he must really have a thing for black. "You're not...mad at me?"

"I should be," The young man gives a sad sort of smile, his eyes resting on his own hands for a moment as he watches the blades of grass shift in the gentle breeze. "I should be angry, you broke my trust, but...I have a feeling it wasn't something you would do intentionally or to hurt me, or out of malice," He rests the basket beside him and leans over to rest his hand against Virgil's "You are a good person," In his thirty-something years of living, Virgil has never heard those words spoken to him with such an intense conviction. "And so is Roman, we both knew it would only be a matter of time before he finds out and he's doing an excellent job of pretending that he doesn't know despite everything,"

"Yeah, he just..." Virgil trails off "I've been with Roman for a third of my life and if there's one thing you need to understand about him, it's that he gets things wrong a lot," The way the young man shifts in curiosity and the look in those soft, soulful eyes makes Virgil want to protect him intensely. But most people that Virgil has to protect is from himself. He wants to beg himself to run and run far away from this strong yet fragile little creature, to turn on his heels and place more distance between them than the edges of the seas; but he can't do that, because the way Patton forgives and cares is something Virgil gets once in a lifetime, and _selfishly_, he wants to love him. A _stranger_, yet it's almost as though his soul is one he's seen before. "He will always try his best, and his best will always be all I could ask of him, but if you want to be with him the way I am with him, you need to understand that his best is often misguided and strayed, and he won't always understand what he is getting wrong,"

"Isn't everyone a little like that?" Patton replies quietly "I mean, all he can do is his best," He shrugs a little, "I think anyone giving me their best is more than I have ever once received," Virgil's heart dares to shatter in his chest. How could anyone look upon this man and not wish to give him the world, he can't fathom that. Patton is simply the most beautiful mortal he'd ever met, both in his heart and his body. A sharp inhale clouds his lungs as he averts his gaze from the other, so he can't see his expression and so he can have a little more control in his own emotions. 

"Well, then I swear to give you my best," He finally says as the silence and the wind take control of the air around them. _Deep breath,_ he says to himself, _get too anxious and you'll wreck the town_. Patton squeezes his hand gently and shifts a little closer, their knees brush together and the mortal swears he can feel static electricity where they touch. When Virgil finally finds it in himself to look up at the other boy, at a face too beautiful to be so close to him and his destructive touch, he can't help but genuinely smile at the thankful expression, or those wonderful wide eyes. "We will protect you," Patton knows there's more to his words, but he figures that Virgil will talk when he's ready; he's not about to start prying at an exhausted man when his anxiousness can cost lives. 

It's weird to think about sometimes, growing up Patton never really had temper tantrums or fussed over anything. He did as he was told when he was told and was still never loved for it. Virgil, on the other hand, threw tantrums and caused floods, and his mother would still love him unconditionally; it's almost like human love always has to be earned and fought for, and there will always be more steps to take to prove it. Patton realizes with a start that this is possibly why he's having so much trouble computing the fact Roman loves him, for the Faery falling in love is an easy thing to do and it takes seconds. Human love has to be a slow process or it will be questioned to be genuine. 

But Patton has never really fit into all that, he once declared he was marrying a boy he met that day to his parents and his mother had told him that boys shouldn't get married. He'd fall in love with every pretty man he met, but he never told his parents that again. He also had always known monogamy wasn't a starting or stopping point for him but again, it was something he kept to himself. The last thing he wanted was to attract attention, people already seem to dislike the fact he exists. 

Virgil notices the young man zone out and squeezes his hand to ground him to the present just a little, the shorter blinks up at the Witch with a dazed and melancholy look on his face. "Do you ever feel like you don't belong somewhere?" He asks softly, "This place, this town has been my entire life and yet I just don't feel like it's home, I like the forest and I like you and Remy is...the strangest person I've ever met but a conversation with him felt more homely than my entire upbringing," 

"Sometimes people can be more of a home than places can, Witches don't really have a traditional family dynamic compared to you, maybe where you are just doesn't feel as comfortable now that you've seen a different type of family life," He looks over him at the town market in the distance "Let me guess, everyone here is a man in a relationship with a women, one or two kids, married in a Church?" Patton nods, his gaze going to his hands as he jaw tenses "Come to stay with us for a few days, get to know us a little better, who knows where you really belong?" 

It's not as though he has any prior engagements, he doesn't have a wife to get home too, just two parents who look at him like he's a stranger in their house. "Will I be safe there?"

"Well, Remy has a habit of randomly setting things on fire by accident, but otherwise yes, Witches can be a little much and a little crude but we're otherwise completely harmless, we'd never just hurt a mortal for the sake of it, it's a violation of our law," _And yet you almost killed three boys for me_. "If you've been welcome in by me then you have a right to be there, even though we tend to have very old fashioned views on where Mortals place on the food chain, I actually know someone you will be perfect to stay with," 

"Okay then, why not?" Virgil laughs, short and quiet in response to the younger's flippant attitude; for a moment he really forgets to keep his walls up, to keep his distance because that small, trusting look on Patton's face seems to re-write who he is in a second. It's like Patton can see right through him sometimes, the past week has been hectic and yet every time Patton looks at him it's with this...gaze, this light in his eyes that says he knows exactly who Virgil is. Not a Witch, not the man who makes clouds turn black, but _Virgil_. And yes, he knows the Mortal is still in awe of what he can do and still not scared of it, not scared of him. They should, for all intents and purposes be strangers to him, so what part of Patton makes him so much like him? How does he go against everything he's been raised to be to fall in love so fast with two men in a forest? 

Why isn't he as scared as he should be?

And why does his body heal like theirs?

Virgil has a lot of questions that he doesn't think even Patton has the answer too, so he leaves them to rest in the grave of his mind and stands instead. "Come, it's about time you met Emile anyway," 


	2. I need to be youthfully felt, cos God I never felt young

_"'Cause with my mid-youth crisis all said and done_   
_I need to be youthfully felt 'cause, God, I never felt young,"_

_-Jackie and Wilson, Hozier_

* * *

Emile. When the name had span through Virgil's lips he was expected someone coy like Remy or perhaps particularly fierce-looking as Virgil is; but this man was something straight out of the sweetest things in life. His hair a bubblegum pink and eyes a soft brown, Emile had this everlasting presence that everything is good and happy in the world, and he's absolutely ecstatic to have a roommate. The man practically bowls Patton into a hug and tugs him inside as he talks fast and gentle like the world has too many words and he simply needs to speak them all at once, brightly colored wings fluttering with excitement; hummingbird wings. When he says he's a healer, Patton takes no doubt in that statement as he welcomes a stranger into his home and offers him a cup of tea. 

Hummingbird wings, a testament to Emile's excitable personality, they move quickly in a montage of blues and greens in an iridescent display of his nature. Even Virgil leans against the door with a small smile for his friend; one of his best friends. "So, do you think you'd be okay to stay here?" The elder Witch asks gently but Patton wastes no time in nodding his head, a dazed smile on his face as Emile squeals in excitement. 

"I can teach you how to medicine," Patton giggles at his speech patterns "I will take good care of him I promise! Oh, you can help me gather herbs and things, we're going to have so much fun, I promise," Like a child in a man's body, he bounces and giggles. Patton wonders how he smiles so much without it hurting his cheeks, but he supposes his entire life he's been looking after to people, being a healer is something you're born drawn to, it's not just learned; for that you truly have to love the world around you and the people you've sworn to protect. That much love in your heart would make anyone smile for so long. "Oh, Virgil, by the way, could I talk to you in private a moment, it's about Remy,"

The way Virgil's face softens in a way that isn't even seen for Roman makes Patton's heart flutter a little, he likes it when people care about other people but that might be because no one had ever cared about him before. He wonders what it's like having a family who cares as Virgil stands and Emile places a hand on the small of his back, leading him to the other side of the home that seems to be bigger inside than it is outside. He can hear them muttering and Emile gestures to his arms, he sees Virgil's jaw clench and he shakes his head. 

The mortal averts his gaze to elsewhere so not to intrude until Virgil comes over and squeezes his shoulder slightly. "Okay, I'll leave you to settle in a little, Emile will take good care of you," He doesn't doubt that for a moment, but as the door closes he suddenly feels cold all over as he stares at his mug of tea, like he's suddenly so alone and so lonely and wants nothing more than Virgil's hands over his own. Or Roman's. He misses Roman a bit, it's only been a day or so since he last saw him but still..._he misses him._

* * *

"Are you okay?" In the list of things Patton hadn't expected to cheer him up, Emile hanging upside down from a tree branch throwing acorns into the basket that Patton was holding, had not been one of them. In all states of fairness, he hadn't quite imagined his life to be going this way at all, watching the Witch as he gives something of a grin and then promptly drops from the tree, his wings working overtime to keep him from crashing into the ground. Although he _knows_ Emile knows what he's doing it doesn't quite stop his heart from skipping a beat in fear, it must have shown on his face because the Witch giggles at him and then pinches his cheeks "Gosh, you Humans are so cute," He hums, padding through the dirt and the mud with some sort of plan in his head. "So, you and Virgil?"

Patton chokes on the air for a second as he shakes his head slowly, then thinks better of it, instead, he fixes his expression with some form of hopeless melancholia "I don't know," He finally says "He doesn't seem particularly interested in me," Quite rightly too, he doesn't know how Roman decided he was good enough for his love when he has someone like Virgil by his side. Patton doesn't think he'd be good enough for Virgil either. Roman is everything he wished his entire life to be; bold, brave, headstrong. The Fae prince knows what he wants and how to get it without even thinking too hard, Patton falls apart the moment he has to make a decision on a _good_ day.

"Virgil is hardly an open book," Emile hums slightly "But he's not Roman," He pauses a moment, basket swinging on his arm as he sighs a little "Fae tend to be very brash and cocky and loud, and because of that Roman is an open book on all occasions, he's not quiet when he falls in love, but Witches...we live in solitude on most occasions, even in covens we're not the height of sociability, except during festivals, if you like Virgil you need to tell him because he's not going to just be able to tell, even if we can sense ideas and feelings, he will re-wire it into something else," Emile squeezes Patton's arm gently "He could read your mind and find out you're madly in love with him and then convince himself those feelings were for a tree because that's just who Virgil is, he's just always been very closed off and quiet and, really, I shouldn't tell you but..." He glances over his shoulder as though he knows the trees have eyes and ears "When Remy was born, Virgil's father left, no one knows where he went or what he did and now Virge just second guesses everything, like it was his fault," He bites his lip nervously "He's always so anxious, and he didn't get much of a childhood because he was helping his mum raise Remy,"

"God, that's sad," Patton whispers "He must be a little shook up by that," A small shake of his head when parents place the burden on their children the world falls to pieces. "I can just never really tell if I'm coming or going with him you know? And he's sort of terrifying sometimes, I need to be able to manage my own emotions a little before I even try an cross that barrier with him _if_ he's interested," There's a small pause where Emile gives him a smile and they start to walk again "I really like him, I do," 

"It's okay to take your time," The Witch rests the basket against a tree stump, pulling a small glass jar from his pocket and a pocket knife out of the other before kneeling to scrape moss off of the stump and into the jar "You don't have to explain it to me, I mean those boys are really kind of a trainwreck, have you met Remy?" Patton grins at him with a nod "Let's just say I'm in the same position," He rolls his eyes with the quiet sort of smile that people give when they're sad and in love. "He keeps wandering in with six-degree burns and I keep patching him up and telling him to be careful but...it's like he's enjoying it, you know? I don't know if I can fix people all the time," Emile pauses for a moment, his soft brown eyes closing behind wide-rimmed glasses. "Men, hey?" He finally utters, finishing up and pocketing his knife, capping the vial. 

"Yeah, men," Patton can only smile sadly back.

* * *

"What's going on with you Rem?" Virgil leans against the door with his arms folded firmly across his chest, his younger brother looking up from his tea and the crossword puzzle he'd been trying to solve for the past two years. "Six across is Willow, but seriously I just spoke to Emile and he seems a little worried about you," Remy rolls his eyes a little as he leans back, taking his cup in his hand and sipping it. 

"Isn't it his job to worry about me?" He mutters "It's basically in the job description, right? To be a hypochondriac?" He looks like he regrets the words as soon as they leave his mouth, he very rarely has a bad word to say about Emile, he practically worships the ground the other walks on. This is how Virgil knows he's getting defensive, so he pulls out a chair, sits down and quirks his eyebrows for his brother to understand he needs to talk. "Okay, fine, I'll bite, I keep 'accidentally' setting myself on fire because I'm too much of a coward to just speak to him, okay?" 

"You...are scared to talk to a boy?" The smirk on Virgil's lips has Remy blushing and landing a playful punch on the other's arm. "Cute," He chuckles, before he sighs a little "Okay, okay, you know you don't have to keep injuring yourself, right, you can just talk to him without any reason? He'd be more happy to talk to you because you want to talk to him than if you turn up with half your arm burned to charcoal," He shakes his head a little "I thought me and Roman were disasters but this really takes the biscuit, not going to lie, you may have reached a maximum level of being a complete dumbass,"

"Any other kind words for me brother dearest?" The younger mutters dryly, but a smile pricks at his lips "Fine, I'll just...talk to him," He looks back at his crossword "Later, when I've gotten some more of this crossword done," Virgil rolls his eyes as he wanders through the front door again, throwing one last look over his shoulder to his brother before going off to find Roman, already smiling at the thought of telling him the days events. 


	3. We tried the world but God it wasn't for us

_"Happy to lie back watch it burn and rust,_

_ We tried the world, good God, it wasn't for us,"_

_-Jackie and Wilson, Hozier_

__

* * *

Roman has a very interesting habit of appearing out of nowhere, it’s a talent of his to move as though he is nothing but the wind, and Patton has to bite his lip to hold back the laugh that he can feel himself about to give as Roman moves up behind Emile to startle him. “Boo,” Emile squeaks and drops the wooden bowl onto the counter with the sort of look a parent might give their mischievous child.

“Roman!” The way that the younger Witches and the older Witches treat Roman is very different and Virgil can see he enjoys both ways this attention is given. The elder folk of the village tend to respect Roman, he is their Prince as much as he is the Fae’s, and he gave them refuge in a time it was needed. But the younger folk grew up with Roman constantly hounding one of their own for as much as a smile. They know Roman to be nothing less than a child at heart, with a taste for danger and a need to cause a little bit of trouble, he’s one of them. Remy and Emile especially could barely see Roman as anything other than a slightly odd Witch, like a brother from somewhere in the trees; after all, they’ve all seen a softer side of Roman, not as a prince but as a friend or brother’s soulmate.

And this is why Emile softly taps the back of Roman’s head and begins to chastise him like a little brother who had just spilled some milk. Patton can’t resist giggling then as he watches the Fae prince smile and flutter away from the half-cross, half-smiling Witch and flop on the chair next to his lover, pressing a sweet kiss to the other’s shoulder. Emile coos at them as he returns to his work, ignoring the little jealousy that wished he could have something that’s even a fraction of that soft doe-eyed look Roman gives the Mortal boy.

That would actually require him to talk to Remy, however.

The door creaked open and the younger Witch huffs a little in a playful manner “Is there a party at my house that I wasn’t told about?” Virgil steps through the door, pouts and pretends to leave again “I’m joking! Come back I love you!” The three laugh as the horned head peers around the door in a faux-intimidated manner, before he grins at his friend and closes the door behind him upon his entrance.

Roman is almost immediately trailing his arms around Virgil, nuzzling against him like a puppy seeing his owner for the first time in a day, and now that Patton thinks about it that’s almost precisely how Roman acts on a good day. Calm, affectionate and unconditional love; and it’s simply all the other asks for in return.

This is the most at peace Patton has felt in such a long time, the world is so hectic and built on the foundations of laws and rules, some rules are so complex it’s hard to know what he’s doing and no matter what someone always seems to be standing over him holding judgment. He has never quite felt at home in his village, ever since he was young people seemed to take issue with his hyperactivity and ability to love the world through rose-colored glasses. He’s been hurt enough times to know he’ll never fit in that world, a world that is simply not meant for him. But here, in these woods, in the confines of all the love in the world and Roman’s arms, he finally feels like he belongs somewhere. Belong in the smile that Virgil gives him, or the eye roll Emile offers at Roman’s affectionate ways, at home in the home of someone who was merely a stranger to him a couple of days ago but would break a leg before he lets any harm come to Patton.

He realizes that Humans don’t love easily, they don’t love with passion. They love too quietly and in secret, should the world discover they hold it in their heart everything might fall apart; and even love itself seems to crumble under a weight of societal expectations. A love like his could never survive amongst Humanity. That world and that life had never been for him and he had bruises to prove it at some point (Even though they seem to be healing faster and faster these days, he suspects perhaps Roman had placed some sort of protection on him).

The door opens again and Remy comes trailing in with a sheepish smile, Emile curses under his breath “Sorry?” The young Witch offers as Patton’s eyes trail to a rather charred forearm “Look I’m not saying I did it on purpose, but if I did do it on purpose it’s only because you’re such a good healer that I knew you could fix it,” He winces as Emile drags him to sit down, flitting around with various swears on his lips. Virgil rolls his eyes at his brother. “Could I get a coffee with that?” Emile flicks his ear in a quiet yet seething response. “Is that a no?”

“I swear to god Remy one of these days I’m not going to fix you up, there’s only so many times I can repair this level of nerve damage! I’ve told you at least sixty times by now to be more careful,” Patton watched, bemused as they begin to bicker like an old married couple, Roman leans an arm on the table and watches them with some form of knowing grin whilst Virgil nudges him as an invitation to stop being nosy.

“How many times has he been here now?” Roman mutters.

“At least thirty this month,” Virgil replies in an equally hushed tone, the Faery makes some form of an impressed whistle as he nods towards them.

“Emile is going to kill him if Remy doesn’t give him a heart attack first, place your bets please,”

“Roman!” Patton hisses, half-smiling despite his shocked tone “It’s rude to place bets on people’s deaths!” The remaining Witch does a poor job of hiding his laugh until Patton’s expression tells him to pack it in, uttering a ‘sorry pops’ sarcastically (the smile doesn’t quite go though as the three of them witness the domestic that is occurring in front of them, Emile insisting this is the last time he’s patching him up, Remy giving a raised eyebrow ‘yeah sure’).

By the end, Patton is stunned to see that Remy’s arm barely has a scrape on it.


End file.
